Las polémicas ortográficas del Siglo de Oro en los autógrafos de Lope de Vega

The linguistic analysis of Lope de Vega’s comedies has traditionally been dissociated from the literary research. However, cooperation between these areas may shed light on important topics affecting both linguistic and literary studies. Orthography is a clear example of this, since intense discussion on the spelling norm was taking place in the Spanish Golden Age and had important consequences on the writers’ style and graphic choices. In fact, such debates were closely related to ideological positions concerning language. Lope de Vega was not impartial in this dispute and sided with the innovative movement which had the starting point in Nebrija and was developed by Mateo Alemán, among others. Actually, the spelling decisions of Lope de Vega in his comedies, which were in line with the proposal of Alemán (1609), may prove of interest in the dating process of plays like La doncella Teodor or Los melindres de Belisa.